• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1891-1898
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• 2016

Imperata cylindrica, a tall tufted grass which has multiple pharmacological applications is one of the key ingredients in various traditional medicinal formula used in India. Previous reports have shown that I. cylindrica plant extract inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in various cancer cell lines. To our knowledge, no studies have been published on the effect of I. cylindrica leaf extract on human oral cancers. The present study was undertaken in order to evaluate the anticancer properties of the leaf extract of I. cylindrica using an oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line SCC-9 as an in vitro model system. A methanol extract from dried leaves of I. cylindrica (ICL) was prepared by standard procedures. Effects of the ICL extract on the morphology of SCC-9 cells was visualized by microscopy. Cytotoxicity was determined by MTT assay. Effects of the ICL extract on colony forming ability of SCC-9 cells was evaluated using clonogenic assay. Cell cycle analysis was performed by flow cytometry and induction of apoptosis was determined by DNA fragmentation assay. The ICL extract treatment caused cytotoxicity and induced cell death in vitro in SCC-9 cells in a dose-dependent manner. This treatment also significantly reduced the clonogenic potential and inhibited cell proliferation by arresting the cell cycle in the G2/M phase. Furthermore, DNA fragmentation assays showed that the observed cell death was caused by apoptosis. This is the first report showing the anticancer activity of the methanol extracts from the leaves of I. cylindrica in human oral cancer cell line. Our data indicates that ICL extract could be considered as one of the lead compounds for the formulation of anticancer therapeutic agents to treat/manage human oral cancers. The natural abundance of I. cylindrica and its wide geographic distribution could render it one of the primary resource materials for preparation of anticancer therapeutic agents.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.109-126
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• 2015

As a subset study to discover indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea, a total of 39 bacterial strains assigned to the classes Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria were isolated from diverse environmental samples collected from soil, tidal flat, freshwater, seawater, seaweed, wetland, plant roots, guts of insects, and fermented foods. From the high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>99.1%) and formation of a robust phylogenetic clade with the closest species, it was determined that each strain belonged to each independent and predefined bacterial species. There is no official report that these 39 species have been described in Korea; therefore 4 species of 4 genera in the order Burkholderiales and 1 species in the order Neisseriales within the class Betaproteobacteria, and 10 species of 6 genera in the order Alteromonadales, 11 species of 3 genera in the order Pseudomonadales, 4 species of 4 genera in the order Enterobacteriales, 2 species of 2 genera in the order Vibrionales, 1 species in the order Aeromonadales, 3 species of 3 genera in the order Oceanospirillales, 2 species of 2 genera in the order Xanthomonadales, and 1 species in the order Chromatiales within the Gammaproteobacteia are reported for proteobacterial species found in Korea. Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, basic biochemical characteristics, isolation source, and strain IDs are also described in the species description section.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.97-108
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• 2015

As a subset study to discover indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea, a total of 29 bacterial strains assigned to the classes Alphaproteobacteria were isolated from various environmental samples collected from plant root, ginseng soil, forest soil, marsh, mud flat, freshwater and seawater. From the high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>99.1%) and formation of a robust phylogenetic clade with the closest species, it was determined that each strain belonged to each independent and predefined bacterial species. There is no official report that these 29 species included in Alphaproteobacteria is have been described in Korea; therefore 14 species of 9 genera in the order Rhizobiales, 7 species of 6 genera in the order Sphingomonadales and 4 species of 2 genera in the order Caulobacterales and 3 species in the order Rhodobacterales and 1 species in the order Rhodospirillales found in Korea. Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, basic biochemical characteristics, isolation source, and strain IDs are also described in the species description section.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2018

In 2016, as a subset study to discover indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea, a total of 15 bacterial strains were isolated and assigned to the class Betaproteobacteria. From the high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>98.8%) and formation of a robust phylogenetic clade with the closest species, it was determined that each strain belonged to each independent and predefined bacterial species. There is no official report that these 15 species have been described in Korea; therefore, 1 strain of the Aquitalea, 5 strains of the Paraburkholderia, 2 strains of the Comamonas, 1 strain of the Cupriavidus, 1 strain of the Diaphorobacter, 2 strains of the Hydrogenophaga, 1 strain of the Iodobacter, 1 strain of the Massilia and 1 strain of the Rhodoferax within the Betaproteobacteria are described for unreported bacterial species in Korea. Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, basic biochemical characteristics, and isolation sources are also described in the species description section.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.36-49
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• 2018

During a study to discover indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea in 2016, a total of 42 actinobacterial isolates were recovered from various environmental samples collected from natural cave, squid, sewage, sea water, trees, droppings of birds, freshwater, eelgrass, mud flat, sediment and soil. On the basis of a tight phylogenetic clade with the closest species and high level of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, it was shown that each isolate was assigned to independent and previously described bacterial species which were assigned to the phylum Actinobacteria. The following 42 species have not been reported in Korea: eight species in two genera n the order Corynebacteriales, 26 species of 16 genera in the Micrococcales, one species of one genus in the Micromonosporales, one species of one genus in the Propionibacteriales, four species of two genera in the Streptomycetales and two species of two genera in the Streptosporangiale. Cell morphology, Gram staining reaction, colony colors and features, the media and conditions of incubation, physiological and biochemical characteristics, origins of isolation and strain IDs of 42 unrecorded actinobacterial species are presented in the species description.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2018

In 2016, as a part of the research program 'Survey of Korean Indigenous Species', diverse environmental samples were collected from various sources of freshwater, seawater, soil, wetland, reclaimed land, sand, pine forest, plant root, ginseng field, solar saltern, and caves. Thousands of bacterial strains were isolated from the diverse samples and identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses. The present study, as a phylogenetic subset of the primary research program, reports 24 unrecorded bacterial species in Korea that belong to the orders Rhizobiales and Sphingomonadales in the class Alphaproteobacteria. Based on the high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities (>98.8%) and formation of a robust phylogenetic clade with the closest type species, it was determined that each strain belonged to each independent and predefined bacterial species. There is no official report that these 24 bacterial species have been described in Korea; therefore, 10 species of nine genera in the order Rhizobiales and 14 species of seven genera in the order Sphingomonadales are described for unreported alphaproteobacterial species in Korea. Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, biochemical properties, and isolation sources are also provided in the species description section.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.451-465
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• 1998

The present study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of brucellosis in Kyungbuk area for the 3 years from 1966 to 1998. Collective milk samples were routinely screened to detect positive farms by using the milk ring test(MRT), and serum agglutination test was performed to detect sero-positive individuals in the MRT positive farms. Attempt were made to isolate the causative organismas from slaughtered sero-positive reactors and some biochemical and polymerase chain reation characters of the isolates were also made to identify the organisms. Seroprevalence to brucellosis in peoples who are close contact with infected dairy herds was also investigated. Brucellosis of dairy cattle was rare before 1997, but has been broken more frequently since early 1998. By the MRT for dairy herds, positive rate was gradually increased every year : 0.6% in 1996, 1.5% in 1997, 3.9% in 1998. Among 262 MRT-positive herds, only 21 herds(8.0%) showed positive brucellosis in serological test. The isolation rates of Brucella sp from tested materials were 51.2% in supramammary glands, 39.5% in milks, and 50.0% in pulmonary Iymphnode, respectively. Isolated strain and biotype were Brucella(B) arbortus biotype 1 in 26 heads, and were B suis biotype 1 in 2 heads. Isolated strain and vaccine strain were very similar in their colony morphology and staining. In drug susceptibility, isolated stains(B abortus) and vaccine strain(B abortus RB-51) were sensitive to ampicillin, gentamycin, kanamycin, neomycin, penicillin, streptomycin, and to tetracycline, but resistant to erythromycin. In the PCR, field strains reacted to BA and IS711 primers, and vaccine strain reacted to BA, IS711, and RB5l primers. In the plate agglutination test of 96 sera of human contacted with animals, serum antibody titer detected 1 : 100 in one person, 1 : 200 in one, and below 1 : 25 in the others.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.241-253
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• 2016

In 2014, as a subset study to discover indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea, a total of 33 bacterial strains assigned to the class Gammaproteobacteria were isolated from diverse environmental samples collected from soil, tidal flat, freshwater, seawater, oil-contaminated soil, and guts of animal. From the high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>98.5%) and formation of a robust phylogenetic clade with the closest species, it was determined that each strain belonged to each independent and predefined bacterial species. There is no official report that these 33 species have been described in Korea; therefore, 1 strain of the Aeromonadales, 6 strains of the Alteromonadales, 3 strains of the Chromatiales, 5 strains of the Enterobacteriales, 4 strains of the Oceanospirillales, 11 strains of the Pseudomonadales, and 3 strains of the Xanthomonadales within the Gammaproteobacteria are described for unreported bacterial species in Korea. Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, basic biochemical characteristics, and isolation sources are also described in the species description section.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.206-219
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• 2016

As a subset study to discover indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea, a total of 42 bacterial strains assigned to the class Alphaproteobacteria were isolated from diverse environmental habitats including plant roots, ginseng soil, forest soil, marsh, mud flat, freshwater, and seawater. From the high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>99.1%) and formation of a robust phylogenetic clade with the closest species, it was determined that each strain belonged to each independent and predefined bacterial species. There is no official report that these 42 species have been described in Korea; therefore 4 species of 1 genera in the order Caulobacterales, 18 species of 10 genera in the order Rhizobiales, 7 species of 5 genera in the order Sphingomonadales and 13 species of 11 genera in the order Rhodobacterales within the Alphaproteobacteria are reported for alphaproteobacterial species found in Korea. Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, basic biochemical characteristics, isolation source, and strain IDs are also described in the species description section.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.226-233
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• 2017

Jeung-pyun, a fermented rice cake, is prepared by fermenting rice sourdough using makgeolli, a traditional Korean rice wine, in the presence of yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The goal of this study was to conduct biochemical and microbial analyses of five different rice sourdoughs, each fermented with a different commercial makgeolli, using culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches. All sourdough samples fermented with different makgeolli for 6.5 h showed different profiles in pH, total titratable acidity, organic acid concentration, and microbial growth. LAB belonging to different genera were identified based on colony morphology on modified MRS and sourdough bacteria agar medium. PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analyses of the five sourdoughs showed different bands corresponding to LAB and yeast. 16S/26S rRNA gene sequence analyses of the samples confirmed that the predominant LAB in the five fermented rice doughs was Lactobacillus plantarum, Lb. pentosus, and Lb. brevis. Various other Lactobacillus spp. and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were common in all five fermented samples. This study provides comprehensive and comparative information on the microflora involved in fermentation of rice sourdough and signifies the need to develop effective starters to enrich the quality of jeung-pyun.